Friday, October 30, 2009

Ultra-ultra Wide Fun!












Nikon D700, Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM

I rented this lens for an architectural shoot to see what an ultra-ultra-wide angle lens would do for me in tight quarters. Suffice it to say it's a lot of fun to shoot with, but must be used extraordinarily carefully as with such an extreme view (122 degrees along the horizontal), distortion pops into the image instantaneously. Of course, if you're having fun with it, the distortion is another matter entirely. Many of these shots were taken literally inches away from objects (like the graffiti and mailbox shots), but it looks like you're several feet away. Crazy wide.

(note: this is a full-frame lens; the equivalent zoom for a cropped sensor dSLR would be about 8-16 mm).

Supposed to be shooting another home tomorrow. I have managed to get my sweaty little hands on a Nikon D3x, a Nikkor 24mm 1:3.5 PC-E and a Nikkor 45mm 1:2.8 PC-E (both are tilt-shift/perspective control lenses) for the shoot... so along with my own equipment I'll be out and about for the day with camera equipment worth enough to buy a new car. It's enough to make a guy jumpy, but also will be very fun to shoot with some of the best photographic equipment money can buy. Will be a relief when it's all back with its rightful owner later the same day! :)

Learn more about what tilt-shift lenses do with this great article.

2 comments:

Just Rhonda said...

cool shots!!! Have fun today!!

whitney said...

Looks good! What are all these architectural shoots for?
The guy who came and did our house pics used some kind of wide lens, but he was not caring if they were distorted. It annoyed me. But the house sold so I really don't care. The end.